


Stay

by Aarashi



Category: One Piece
Genre: Despair, Gen, Light Angst, Loneliness, Lost - Freeform, Nakamaship, Post-Battle, The Going Merry, Water 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 14:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19770514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aarashi/pseuds/Aarashi
Summary: After Usopp and Luffy's fight, the remaining Straw Hat Pirate crew stays in a hotel. Nobody can sleep, though. Nami does not know what to do. The only thing they can do now is staying.





	Stay

Water Seven rested at night. It felt strange, after all the activity they had seen during the day; now, streets were empty, there was not a single _yagara_ left in the channels and the whisper of the water was the only sound that could be heard from her room. The city slept.

Nami got away from the window and approached to the bed. She sat down and contained a sigh. It was comfortable, the counterpane was nice to touch, but it was not her bed, and in those moments the idea of sleeping in a place different from her cabin only rub salt in the wounds.

Nami closed her eyes for an instant, trying to erase the images that came back to her mind, but it was too late. She had already returned to the kitchen, to the deck, to the ship they had abandoned. She wanted to go back. She wanted to leave.

She stood up, unable to sitting still. The other bed of the room was empty; Chopper had curled up in the couch and he slept silently. Nami stared at him with sadness. The reindeer had not said a word since they had arrived.

With a little sigh, Nami took a few insecure steps around the room and finally reached the door. She hesitated before opening it and getting to the corridor.

The hotel they had stayed in was silent. It was located relatively close to the port, even though in the darkness Nami had barely paid attention to the way while they walked. For once, it had been Zoro who had guided them. They had left the ship after picking up their belongings and they had walked to the city, Luffy in the front, but the captain had soon distanced. Zoro had taken the lead then. Not even Sanji had made a single comment about it. They had walked until the cook had seen a hotel and they had decided to stop. Nami had felt the weight of the briefcase with the money while they went up the stairs until her room. Releasing it had been a relief.

They had picked up two rooms, triple and double, in case Robin came back. Nami doubted she did. She also doubted Luffy spent the night there.

Nami admired the boys’ composure. She wished she was like them.

Her sandals walked on the carpet of the corridor without making a sound and she stopped in front of another room. She opened the door cautiously. It was dark inside, but she immediately felt a cold air current and saw some light coming from the glass that led to the terrace. She saw Zoro’s silhouette, sat in the bed with his head against the back wall, his eyes closed. He did not move when Nami passed, but she knew he was not asleep. She said nothing.

Sanji was smoking in the terrace. He did move when he noticed Nami, asking with his look if anything had happened. When he saw her face he seemed to understand that nothing had happened, at least if they ignored all that had happened that day.

Luffy could not be seen around. Nami did not ask where he had gone. She still was not sure why she was there.

After a while, Sanji threw the cigarette and turned to Nami.

“I’m gonna walk around the coast, just in case I find Robin-chan,” Sanji said in a low voice.

Nami nodded. She did not feel the strength to ask him to be careful, to accompany him, to beg him he found Robin. She just nodded.

Sanji’s eye looked as transparent as the water of the fountain.

“Stay here,” he whispered.

Nami thought she could hear a _please_ after that last sentence and she felt the urge to cry. She nodded again. Sanji left the terrace and Nami heard the door of the room.

It was silent again, too silent.

She approached to the rail. She could not see anyone around. She was not sure about what or who she was even looking for. There was nothing but houses and channels, stone and water. The night painted everything dark. She could not see anything.

She could not set the course.

Her right hand sought for the smooth surface of the log pose and she felt her eyes burnt, while a strange calm took over her body. When the sun rose, she would run through those streets, through those channels, and she would find their heading. No matter what, she would do it. When the sun rose, she would guide her crew.

Until then…

“You can stay.”

Zoro spoke quietly.

Nami nodded, without caring if he was seeing it or not. She just waited there, looking at the beautiful city that, in just one day, had snatched so much from them. She felt the tears going down her cheeks silently, but she did nothing. The whisper of the water was the only sound that could be heard.

Until the sun rose, she just stayed there.


End file.
